Hot Range Rover Sport previewed in video teaser

Land Rover has issued a teaser clip that appears to show a high-performance version of the Range Rover Sport that's been under development at the legendary Nurburgring race track.

Spy images over the past few months have shown the disguised car racking up hundreds of laps of the iconic German circuit. The short teaser clip shows the track and the scripted voiceover states, 'Most of the world's great performance cars have been honed to perfection here at the Nurburgring. Why should ours be any different?'

There's only a short clip of the disguised SUV racing past the camera, but reducing the speed of the video playback reveals the car's silhouette to be that of the Range Rover Sport. The exhaust note is unmistakeably a V8, hinting that the high-performance variant will use a version of Jaguar Land Rover's supercharged V8 motor.

The vehicle in question is likely to be an early offering from JLR's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division. Launched last week, the new brand is tasked with developing extreme performance and luxury versions of all of the company's models.

Land Rover officials have remained tight-lipped on further details about the video, but it's likely to be the first step towards some sort of preview or unveiling at next week's Goodwood Festival of Speed.